I used to hate this game, because it was heavily promoted as a "re-imagining", which I feel is a cop-out to staying true to the original plot. I wasn't fond of the removal of the combat system. BUT after thinking about it and the ending. I have a brand new perspective:

First off, the game isn't a remake or a re-imagining at all. It actually CAN fit comfortably into the chronological order of the series.

So Heather goes into therapy... my guess is that she, after having had such a traumatic emotional/mental overload in her life, was forced to seek professional help due to a psychological breakdown. Since Heather is part of Alessa - who as we know had latent psychic ability - it's presumed that Heather should also have some of that ability too. I believe that her quest for therapy stems from random memories of the past events and people from SH1, as well as the disassociating from the truth of her father's murder in SH3.

Her therapist has her do little projects and they are applied to the story development. I'm willing to bet that the gameplay that we see is actually what the therapist is picturing in his mind, as Heather is telling him about the random events and the people in her mind. This could also be supported by tasks Heather does affecting the way things look. (ie. she colors the house, the therapist sees it and as he hears the story, he bridges the gaps in his mind between heather choices to her random memories)

Characters filling new roles and personalities are as a result of the therapist suggesting what-ifs for how they could possible relate to the things heather is mentioning, of course none of those involve being part of a cult.

The idea that there is no combat is completely understandable now, since past games have utilized the combat system as a means to illustrate the protagonist's fight in "concurring his demons", however this story is told by Heather (which is not her own) to her doctor (also, not his story), so therefore it makes perfect sense why no one fights. I believe that Harry Mason, in this game, is actually the therapist, listening and imagining it all happen as the story is being told.

The reality she's dodging is that her dad was killed and she saw the body herself. Hell, that would screw anyone up. So this becomes a suppressed memory. Again, the therapist not knowing of this unspoken event of Harry's murder from SH3, but most likely only knowing that Harry is dead, then concludes (after having listened to all the memories and trying to pieces it together) that Harry died in that car crash. Technically this would completely finalize the Alessa/Heather chapter in future Silent Hill installments because the therapist would be convincing her that nothing crazy happened in Silent Hill following that crash, and, in turn, would be unconsciously be helping her to further slip into denial over the events of SH3, thus leaving Heather a normal young woman with a father who died in a car crash as opposed to a young woman with a checkered past involvement with some town cult.

Lastly, seeing James come in for an appointment, in the UFO ending, might also prove that the events from SM were pieced together incorrectly by the therapist because if SH1 didn't actually happen, the way we all know it to have gone down, then the events of SH2 couldn't have happened either

So....what about the timeline changes? And her therapist being Kauffman? And Dahlia Mom comforting her after her therapy session?

Where's Douglas? Why is Cheryl's physical features totally different? Why the hell is she in Silent Hill of all places? Who's Michelle?

Why can't this just be it's own self-contained universe like the creator SAID it was, and be a thematic sequel instead of a literal one? The in-universe continuity clearly doesn't matter since you're making up fanfiction, so why bother forcing the square piece in the round hole? The game and it's story can stand on it's own merits.

The game is what it is and I know that. I just wanted to have fun with it for the sake of discussion

I just think the idea of repressed memories of people and trying to sort them out can allow for a little thought-play. I mean Claudia (Vincent and Douglas) brought about the events of SH3 by causing Heather to remember. SM seems to be doing the exact opposite, with Kaufman encouraging her to deny it all, which could comfortably allow for Heather/Alessa to be removed from all future games. The game designers would no longer need to cite Alessa as the catalyst and thereon would focus on the mystery of the town's powers alone as the source and not the symptom of the what happened to Alessa.

But SH3's ending already allows for Heather/Alessa to be removed from all future games. She's happy, she's safe, she's putting things behind her, and she destroyed everything and everyone who would want to use her for their own personal goals.

Whatever Heather saw after killing God, it turns her from a crying mess to a joking, smiling teenager. For all we know, she saw Harry's ghost. She don't need no therapy.

But SH3's ending already allows for Heather/Alessa to be removed from all future games. She's happy, she's safe, she's putting things behind her, and she destroyed everything and everyone who would want to use her for their own personal goals.

Whatever Heather saw after killing God, it turns her from a crying mess to a joking, smiling teenager. For all we know, she saw Harry's ghost. She don't need no therapy.

Yea, WE know that... but I wouldn't doubt that they'd do it for all the newbie fans that just want everything to have reoccurring themes, as a familiar staple, despite how they fit in with current game plots (ie. Alessa and Pyramidhead)

I read through the initial post a few times, and I need to make sure I understand exactly what you're saying here; You're implying that the events of Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 DID happen, and that Shattered Memories is Heather/Cheryl's way of coming to terms with Harry's death, right?

In that case, it would seem that 3 wrapped up much nicer than this scenario. Denying everything that happened in her past would be less favorable than her accepting it and making the decision to move on.

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Hmmm. Well considering that the events of the first game in the bad ending of 1 are nothing but Harry's dying-fantasy-story-thing.....then that's totally possible imo. (I already know everybody is getting ready to get up in arms about this, because we've had this conversation before, but Tomm believes so as well.)

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I suppose the "Bad Ending theory" is a possibility. Strikes me as a boring possibility, since it renders both mutually irrelevant. That is, if the Silent Hill Bad Ending (with all it implies) and Shattered Memories as what it is are both true, then neither has anything to do with the other and they may as well be separate.

I've always considered Shattered Memories as a thematic complement to the original Silent Hill (even wrote up a topic where I compared the whole scenario to Dante's final circle of Hell, Cocytus), or an "other side" perspective, one that could feed into a greater understanding of the original game. However, casually hooking this game onto an established timeline? I don't even see how it would add anything valuable to either the game or the series.

....Then why are you complaining about the lack of continuity and trying to force the empowered, self-actualized Heather Mason into the broken, emotionally shattered Cheryl?

it's really not complaining, because at the end of the day. it is what it... as I said earlier. It's just me musing, more than anything

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SilentWren wrote:

I read through the initial post a few times, and I need to make sure I understand exactly what you're saying here; You're implying that the events of Silent Hill and Silent Hill 3 DID happen, and that Shattered Memories is Heather/Cheryl's way of coming to terms with Harry's death, right?

In that case, it would seem that 3 wrapped up much nicer than this scenario. Denying everything that happened in her past would be less favorable than her accepting it and making the decision to move on.

I agree with you, but the game makes it a point to tell the player how this is going to profile them and is filled with menial tasks for the psychologist to evaluate. From a psychological stand point, it wouldn't be uncommon for some one to experience some something so traumatic and be fine for the moment, but then have a mental breakdown at some later point. Obviously this wouldn't be something done on purpose, but again, the events of SH1 enabled the events of SH2 (as far as we know), so part of my speculation had come from seeing James in the same office during the UFO ending. Again, it was just some random thoughts; I'm not going to write letters to Konami or make it my mission to promote my "findings" or anything lol. Just rambling...---------------------Mod Edit: Please don't double post. If you have something else to add before anyone else has replied, please use the edit button. Thanks - fudgestix

Doesn't the presence of the mother in Shattered Memories immediately break any continuity potential from SH1/3?

Cheryl thinks that this woman is her biological mother.Tomm said in interview:

Quote:

For example, in one Dahlia is clearly Harryâ€™s wife, or past Harryâ€™s wife, or something. In another, profileâ€™s dialogue, she basically says â€˜I know OF Cheryl,â€™ like someone heâ€™s seeing on the side.

But it IS her mother. Portraying Dahlia as not a member of her family, and as a total slutty skank obviously unworthy of her deified Hero Dad, is one of the biggest parts of her complex, since their divorce seems to have lead directly to Harry's death.

Dahlia is Cheryl's mother, because there's no one else who could've conceived her. The two of them married before Cheryl was born and she has a physical resemblance to both of them.